Don’t Believe these 3 Common Marketing Myths

Does this meme look familiar to you? It certainly does to me. There are a lot of people that don’t get marketing; they think it’s gimmicky, involves giving stuff away for free, or my personal favorite, is “just like Mad Men.”

But the biggest offense is when business owners believe this stuff too.

Marketing is an integral part of growing any newly formed startup (or really, any business). The sooner business owners get onboard, the sooner they reap the benefits: more leads, greater awareness, better reputation and more. Here are some common marketing myths that business owners should forget about right now:

1) “I don’t have a large enough budget for marketing.”

If you want to execute marketing via email, direct mail, social media, content marketing, advertising and more, then this myth is on point. However, small businesses absolutely should not stretch themselves thin by selecting 10 or more marketing activities to execute at a time.

Choose 2-3 initiatives (or even one!) that you feel confident in planning, executing and evaluating afterward. Then add in another activity when you’re ready. Chances are, you’ll start seeing a return on the investment you made in early campaigns before you start new activities. This allows small businesses to market effectively on modest budgets.

2) “I have an excellent salesperson so I don’t need marketing.”

Yes, an excellent salesperson is an important part of selling any product. However, sales and marketing work best together. You still need marketing for these two reasons:

Marketing helps salespeople spend their time better. With the right marketing activities, you’ll warm up leads, bypassing the first cold call or two. Then, by the time a lead reaches your sales team, the lead is already familiar with your product or service–and ready to learn more.

Salespeople need marketing support. Salespeople are excellent at making calls, pitching, presenting, and closing business. But have you ever seen a sell sheet made by a salesperson? If not, good. You don’t want to.

3) “I sent the email, now my job is over.”

Pulling the trigger on your marketing plans is an excellent step in the right direction. However, sending the email or tweeting the tweet then stopping leaves the job half done. What business owners must realize is that to be truly effective, they have to analyze the results of their email campaign and tweak the message for next time.

Understand which tweets get the most interaction and send more like it. Marketing plans are living, breathing documents that should change constantly based on past results.

What other small business marketing myths have you heard? Are there any that you think are actually true? Leave a note by joining the conversation on Twitter!

Jackie Steinmetz is a digital marketing consultant specializing in B2B SaaS startups. Jackie's virtual marketing agency takes pride in being fast and flexible--two qualities vital to marketing small businesses effectively. Check out Jackie's blog or connect with her on Twitter.